Office of Teaching and Learning

Our schools are humming with the sound of student learning! Teachers are fostering a sense of belonging by building relationships and creating classroom communities, as well as using a variety of instructional practices to engage all students in learning. Students are hard at work learning new skills and information, participating in educational field trips and extra-curricular activities, and building community during school assemblies!

Additionally, our educators are engaging in ongoing professional development. The goal of our professional development time is to support instructional excellence and student growth. Our professional development schedule allows for collaboration and alignment in Professional Learning Communities to meet our goals as outlined in our School Improvement Plans and Plan for Success. Our next professional development time is scheduled for October 23, which is an early release day for students.

Grades K-6 ELA:

Students in grades K-6 engage in instruction that includes the Wit & Wisdom ELA program. Wit & Wisdom provides many opportunities for students to read and respond to stories and nonfiction texts. Our students are actively building knowledge and developing a sense of curiosity!

(Pictured: Village School students engaging in a reading and writing lesson).

Wit and Wisdom curriculum provides:

- A rigorous research-based curriculum

- Engaging materials for all students

- Support for all learners

- Knowledge building opportunities using fiction and nonfiction texts

- Opportunities to build vocabulary and word knowledge

- Vertically aligned learning in grades K-6

Students in grades K-3 also learn foundational skills through the Fundations Curriculum. Fundations is a multimodal approach to reading, spelling, and handwriting.

Grades 7-12 ELA:

ELA teachers at Marblehead Veterans Middle School and Marblehead High School have thoughtfully developed curriculum units that address the Massachusetts State Standards. Students read classic and modern short stories & novels, compose essays, study grammar skills, learn to write research papers, and engage in discussions during ELA classes. Freshmen begin the year by reading the novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Teachers participate in collaborative planning with their grade level teams as well as their colleagues from other grades to vertically plan and align curriculum. See this program of studies for more information about MHS offerings.

Grades K-6 Math:

Students in Kindergarten through 6th grade engage in the Illustrative Math Program. This information sheet from the Illustrative Math (IM) website, gives an overview of the types of lessons and activities that are used in the program to address the MA State Standards. Cooperatively solving, discussing, and reasoning through problems is a large part of the IM math curriculum. This type of work leads students to express their thinking and push each other to think flexibly and efficiently about problems in all domains of math.

(Pictured: Glover School 1st Grade students playing “Shake and Spill” to practice their mathematical skills.)

Grades 7-8 Math:

Students are hard at work at Veterans Middle School working their way through the Ready Common Core Mathematics program. In 7th and 8th grade, students continue to build upon learned problem solving skills in preparation for success in algebra and other higher level math classes. In 7th grade, students explore ratios, rational numbers, statistics and data, areas of a circle, and more! In 8th grade, students explore linear equations, functions, the Pythagorean theorem, linear equations to model real life data, and more!

Grade 9-12 Math:

Math classes at Marblehead High School are engaging students in learning advanced mathematical skills and concepts. Math lessons aim to help students develop critical thinking skills while fostering collaboration, clear communication, creative thinking, and responsible citizenship. Our teachers are preparing for a New England Association of Schools & Colleges visit where staff and students will have the opportunity to showcase the exciting happenings at MHS!

(Pictured: Village School Math Olympiads using their brain power and collaborative problem solving skills to answer math problems during their WIN enrichment block.)

Thank you to our amazing Instructional Coaches who are working very hard to support our students and staff - Rebecca Brand, Angela Graziano, Mary LeBlanc, Danielle Mosher, and Emily Perez!

Our newly adopted Social-Emotional Learning curriculum, Wayfinder, will be introduced to all students over the next few weeks. We are sharing with you the Wayfinder Family Letters for the first unit in the curriculum. Please click on the grade level for your student to learn more!

Wayfinder Family Letter Links:

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

6th Grade

In an effort to continue to build our home-school relationships, Parent/Guardian & Teacher conferences are scheduled for November 7 & 8, 2024. Conferences are a great time for families to partner with teachers and learn more about student performance. School-specific information about conferences will be forthcoming from building leaders and teachers.

November 7 is an early release day only for students in grades PreK-8. There is no school for all students grades PreK-12 on November 8.

This month, we celebrate our outstanding Principals and Assistant Principals! I am very grateful for their leadership and dedication to our students and staff!

Michele Carlson, MHS Principal

Lindsay Donaldson, MHS Assistant Principal

Dan Richards, MHS Assistant Principal

Matthew Fox, MVMS Principal

Cathy Koch, MVMS Assistant Principal

Scott Williams, Village School Principal

Jenni Emmett-Conrad, Village School Assistant Principal

Frank Kowalski, Glover School Interim Principal

Mary Maxfield, Brown School Principal

Matt Manfredi, Brown School Assistant Principal

I appreciate our families' ongoing support of our amazing students and staff. We are better together!

Thank you,

Julia